Fringe Benefit
by bird by snow
Summary: When his boss came up with the new schedule, John thought his social life had taken a turn for the worse. Turns out he was wrong, and working the weekends came with an unforeseen benefit.


**A/N:** This story was originally a series of ficlets that I posted over on my LJ. The idea behind it was to tell a story through short glimpses into John's life based around his new work schedule. It started out as just a creative exercise to help ward off writer's block and keep my interest in the fandom, but I rather like how it turned out in the end. Enjoy!

* * *

Monday came, and went. So did Tuesday, Wednesday, and the rest of the week. Another detention passed and then another passed after that, but John's life remained the same as it always had been, despite declarations and marijuana-influenced promises that would have seemed to indicate otherwise.

It wasn't until Tuesday—two weeks after he had let his guard down to a bunch of strangers—that things actually started to change. After arriving at work, he found his schedule had been erased from the board and his timecard had been replaced with a note telling him in big, bold letters to 'SEE LARRY'. He tried desperately to remember when and how he had fucked up, but nothing stood out. He had no choice but to head into the back office to find out his fate.

It turned out that he had been promoted to working behind the rental/customer service counter. It was a better position that came with slightly better pay, and he was feeling pretty good about it until he was given his new schedule. He had been moved to the weekend. There were good reasons behind the switch, Larry had assured him with a toothy grin. It was busier, so they could use the help, and now he wouldn't have to work on school nights. Wasn't that great?

Yeah, just great.

His boss was a decent guy who meant well, but he had effectively killed what little of a social life John had.

* * *

_J. Bender *__**new schedule***__: Fri. 4/13 (5pm-cl), Sat. 4/14 (5pm-cl), Sun. 4/15 (10am-3pm)_

The first Friday night that John worked, he saw Claire for the first time in three weeks. He wouldn't say that he'd been avoiding her, exactly, it was just that their paths didn't naturally cross. And he wasn't going to go out of his way to try and make them. He figured it would only lead to rejection. Nothing could match that Saturday in March, so he had left it far behind him. Or so he'd thought.

He noticed her right away. She walked into the Funplex with a group of girls he presumed were her friends. He watched them for a while. They took up an entire table in the restaurant area, but only ordered sodas. They were loud, flirtatious, and they laughed at everything. Pretty soon, they had their own audience. They never did come over and rent any rollerskates.

They came back the next night, but it was more of the same. Grace the building with their appearance, make the others believe they were lucky just to be seen in the same place as them, and then leave without having lowered themselves to join in. Sometimes he thought it looked like Claire was having fun, but other times, he wondered. Sometimes, her smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

"_I hate having to go along with everything my friends say,"_ her confession echoed in his mind.

He told Memory-Claire that she was an idiot.

* * *

_J. Bender: Fri. 4/20 (5pm-cl), Sat. 4/21(5pm-cl), Sun. 4/22(10am-3pm)_

On Saturday of the following week, the group actually changed up their routine. John watched them work their way around the arcade, flirting with the guys, pretending to be impressed by high scores. Claire was different though. Occasionally, when she thought no one was paying attention, she would actually play a game or two. And in those rare moments, she looked like she was actually enjoying herself.

Eventually he had to attend to a customer, requiring him to divert his attention for a few minutes. When he looked backed, Claire had moved, he assumed to one of the machines beyond his view. About a half an hour later, he saw her out of the corner of his eye on her way back from the bathroom, and it caught him completely by surprise. She did a double-take and he turned away quickly and went back to work. He didn't want her to know that he knew she was there. He busied himself with rearranging the rental skates. There. She wouldn't have to acknowledge him now, and there wouldn't be any awkwardness. She could just go back over to her friends and pretend she never saw—

"John?"

He whirled around at the sound of her voice and tried his hardest to act nonchalant. "Cherry," he greeted her, "To what do I owe this honor?"

She leaned on the counter casually, like they were old acquaintances. "I'm here with my friends." She nodded in the direction of the group of girls that were once more reigning over one of the tables in the restaurant. "We hang out here on the weekends.

"Is that so?" As if he didn't know.

"Yup. A lot of people from school do. The music is really good."

The Funplex hired a DJ on the weekends, and he had to admit, the music didn't suck. "Well, if you're here so much, how come this is the first I've seen of you? Wait, I know, a richie like you probably has her own diamond-studded, gold-plated skates, right? No need to share footwear with us commoners."

"Oh, um, I don't really skate…"

He wanted to ask her if she was aware that the Funplex was largely a _skating_ rink, but instead it came out as, "Why not?"

"Because it makes you all sweaty, and I'm not very good at it," and then finally, the truth as he suspected it, "And my friends never want to."

"Screw your friends. It's not like you'd be the only one out there. Look, I've got a pair of skates just waiting for you here," he said as he pulled a random pair off the shelf.

She looked like she was considering it. "I…"

He was wearing down her resolve, he knew it. She would be so much more interesting if she was as independently minded as she had been in detention. "They probably don't even smell that bad," he said taking a whiff and then coughing it back out when the funky smell hit his nose.

She giggled at him and smiled. A real smile. "I would…" she trailed off.

"But?" he prompted, as he put the skates back.

"I'm not really dressed for it." She gestured at her clothes.

Nothing wrong with her white sweater, although it looked expensive. John leaned over the counter and made a show of inspecting her lower half. He'd been admiring how her skirt showed off her legs all night, but of course he couldn't let her know that. He shrugged indifferently. "I've seen girls skate in less practical clothes."

"Do they skate as badly as me? If I fall, I'll flash half the school."

He nodded. "As long as I'm included in that half, I'm okay with that."

"You've already seen—" She caught herself and he raised an eyebrow, causing her to blush.

"Trust me, I remember," he leered. "An image like that tends to stay with a guy."

"Pig."

"Tease."

This time, _she_ raised an eyebrow. "Only if it gets you hot, right?" She smiled smugly at his reaction and then went to join her friends, leaving him with a, "Bye, John" and a great view of her ass as she walked away.

He grinned uncontrollably. That was the most fun he'd had on the job since he'd started working there.

* * *

_J. Bender: Fri. 4/27 (5pm-cl), Sat. 4/28 (5pm-cl), Sun. 4/29 (10am-3pm)_

Claire arrived the next Friday before her friends and came dressed in something slightly more suitable for physical activity, while still remaining fashion forward. John was impressed that she was going to do what she wanted for once. He gave her a nice pair of skates—fairly new with minimal scuffs—and assured her that it was very likely they were foot fungus free.

She brought the skates back after an hour.

"Kind of hard to skate if you don't leave your table," he commented.

"You noticed?"

_Shit_. He hadn't wanted her to know he was watching her. Luckily, she didn't wait for a reply.

"I couldn't convince anyone to skate with me and we were talking, and having fun, so…"

"I get it." He supposed he should tease her about that, or point out something obvious, but he didn't. Instead he just took the skates from her and put them back on the shelf. "Don't think I'm going to give you a refund just because you didn't use them," he said, grabbing her shoes and handing them back to her.

"I didn't," she said. "Maybe I'll try again next time."

He nodded and watched her return to her friends.

xxx

But next time she didn't skate. On Saturday, she was back to wearing impractical clothes. She did, however, bring him over a Coke.

"What's this for?" he asked skeptically taking the cup from her.

"I thought you looked thirsty."

"If you thought I looked sexy would you do something about that too?"

"Yeah, I'd probably get my eyes examined."

He clutched his chest and feigned a pained expression. "You wound me, Cherry."

She chuckled as she walked away. "See you later."

* * *

_J. Bender: Mon. 4/30 (3-9pm), Tues. 5/1 (3-9pm), Sun. 5/6 (10am-3pm) - changes approved by L._

John wasn't scheduled for Friday and Saturday of the week after that. Instead, in a rare moment of free time, he got to hang out with his friends and go to a concert for the first time in a long while. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something. He wondered if Claire would notice that he wasn't around.

* * *

_J. Bender: Thurs. 5/10 (3-9pm), Fri. 5/11 (5pm-cl), Sun. 5/13 (10am-3pm)_

He got his answer the following week when she sought him out as soon as she walked through the door on Friday. She stood expectantly at the counter, like she was waiting for him to say something.

So he did. "Can I help you?"

"You weren't here last weekend." It almost sounded like and accusation.

"You miss me, Sweets?"

She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Hardly," she denied, then asked, "What happened?"

"Danny needed off, so we switched. I took his Monday and Tuesday and he took my Friday and Saturday."

"That's it?"

He couldn't tell if she was disappointed or relieved. "That's it."

"Oh, I wondered…"

"What?"

"Where you were."

It didn't take a genius to read between the lines. "Just because I'm not here doesn't mean I'm lying on the floor in a pool of my own blood."

"I know that," she said quickly, as if she was embarrassed.

"Good. And just so you know, I'm not working tomorrow night either, so don't go putting my face on a milk carton or anything."

"As if," she rolled her eyes, and then asked, "Do you usually only work Friday and Saturday nights?"

"No, I work Sunday afternoons too. You might want to make a note of that in case you ever want to go on a date with me."

She snorted a laugh in reply. "In your dreams."

"I don't think your virgin ears want to hear about the kinds of things that go on in my dreams."

"I'll bet I already know."

"Oh yeah? You think after one detention and a little bit of flirting, you know me?" he challenged, leaning in closer.

"Mm-hmm."

"Do tell."

"I'll bet most of your dreams involve a naked woman."

It was true, although the same could be said for any teenage boy with a pulse. But Claire wasn't done apparently.

"And I'll even bet that some of those dreams are about me," she said in a low, seductive voice.

Oh, she was_ good_. But John wasn't about to let Claire win at _his_ game. "You want me to tell you about them sometime?" he asked. "Maybe give you some hot ideas to spice up your own dreams?"

"My dreams haven't exactly been lacking in that department lately," she told him, eyes twinkling mischievously.

"Tell me."

"I'm not sure my virgin mouth could utter those kinds of things out loud."

"Believe me, Sweets, if I wasn't at work right now I'd teach your virgin mouth—"

A not-so-subtle cough from Larry as he walked past the counter startled John out of his thoughts and he straightened immediately, putting his business face back on. "So, you gonna rent some skates, Princess, or what?"

"Of course not, I just like wasting your time," she said, flashing him a victorious smile just before she walked away.

He was pretty sure he was in love.

* * *

_J. Bender: Fri. 5/18 (5pm-cl), Sat. 5/19 (5pm-cl), Sun. 5/20 (10am-3pm)_

On Friday his friends came to hassle him on the job and tried to extort discounts from him. They were successful in getting a handful of arcade tokens, taken from the disgruntled customer supply under the counter. He figured they fell into that category.

Claire didn't come over to say hi until after they'd left to play skee-ball. It was a gesture that John appreciated, but at the same time it made him feel uneasy, like he was hiding her from his friends. He hadn't forgotten what had been said in detention about his friends and neither had she, apparently.

"You work a lot," she commented as she watched him straighten a stack of brochures.

"Nah, only about twenty hours right now."

"That's a lot! What do you need all that money for?"

"Drugs and smokes ain't cheap, Sweetheart," he replied.

She thought that over for a moment. "I suppose."

"And if you must know," he felt compelled to add, "I'm trying to buy a car."

She nodded excitedly. "I thought so! So am I, well, I will be during the summer, anyway. My parents won't let me work during the school year."

He would've thought her parents would've just bought her a car if she had asked, and he opened his mouth to say as much, but she cut him off.

"I know what you're going to say, and no, they won't. They made my brother work to help pay for his. We're not _that_ spoiled."

"Oh no, the thought never crossed my mind."

xxx

On Saturday, she set a chocolate milkshake down in front of him.

Mystified he asked, "You trying to bribe me or something?"

She smiled. "It's been two months."

And she had bought him…an anniversary gift? Clearly, he was missing something here.

"No more detention, right?" She paused, as if to count back in her head to figure out if she had gotten the dates wrong. "It's been eight Saturdays."

He was impressed she'd kept track. He took a sip from his celebratory milkshake. "Yeah, now I can actually sleep in on Saturday mornings."

"Or go out. You know, with your friends, or whoever."

"Riiight," he drawled, watching Claire closely, still trying to figure out her intentions. She seemed uncharacteristically flustered for some reason.

"Well, you're busy and I should…" she gestured to her friends. "Enjoy the shake!"

"Yeah. Thanks," he remembered to call out to her.

xxx

Much to John's surprise, Claire walked into the Funplex on Sunday morning, and even more surprisingly, she was all alone. When he realized she was unusually dressed in jeans and an old sweatshirt, he knew she was finally going to skate.

"You just can't get enough of me, can you?" he asked, getting a pair of skates off the shelf for her.

"Or maybe I just feel bad about always wasting your time," she replied, handing him her shoes in return. Her sweatshirt slipped off her shoulder and he could see her bra strap. The urge to plant a kiss on her bare shoulder was enough to make him forget his witty comeback. He nodded dumbly and put her shoes in the empty space on the shelf.

He spent most of the rest of his shift that day watching Claire fly around the rink, passing the others without a second look. Despite her earlier protests, she wasn't actually a bad skater. She could probably try-out for the roller derby.

Heh, now there was a picture to keep him occupied at night—Claire in a tight shirt and a pair of short shorts…

* * *

_J. Bender: Fri. 5/25 (5pm-cl), Sat. 5/26 (5pm-cl), Sun. 5/27 (10am-3pm)_

On Friday, John walked to work in the worst mood he'd been in in a while. That afternoon, he'd had another verbal sparring match with Vernon, netting him an extra two Saturdays of detention. He'd shut his mouth to keep it at two this time, fearing if he didn't, he risked them bleeding over into the summer. He didn't mind so much that he would have to retake a couple of his classes during his summer vacation, but he didn't need detention to go along with them.

Halfway to the Funplex, John realized that he was actually looking forward to working that night. He was anxious to regale Claire with his story of how Vernon had unjustly persecuted him. She'd definitely sympathize. Maybe she'd even buy him a consolatory milkshake.

But the queen and her subjects didn't show up that night or on Saturday.

xxx

John decided not to comment on Claire's absence when she came in on Sunday morning to skate. He didn't want her to think he cared. In fact, he avoided her altogether by letting Larry take care of her rental while he slipped out for a smoke. He was content to let her believe he wasn't there again.

His plan of avoidance failed when he forgot to leave before she came to return her rollerskates.

"Hey," she greeted him, placing the skates on the counter. "I thought maybe you weren't here today."

"And wouldn't that just bite?" he snapped back, tossing her shoes down in front of her.

He wasn't sure why he was so upset.

"Jeez."

Neither was she, apparently.

Claire grabbed her shoes and left without a smile or a 'see you'.

John kicked himself for being an ass well into the next week.

* * *

_J. Bender: Fri. 6/1 (5pm-cl), Sat. 6/2 (5pm-cl), Sun. 6/3 (10am-3pm) - we have a b-day party at noon on Sun._

On Friday night, John caught Claire glancing over in his direction a few times, but she left him alone. By Saturday night though, she had decided to talk to him again. Secretly, he was glad.

"I heard you picked up a couple more weeks of detention," she casually mentioned as she rested her elbows on the counter and her chin in her hands.

"Yeah, Vernon decided he really missed my company," John replied dryly. He was still pissed.

"After he grabbed you like that, I'm surprised you stopped at two weeks. I would've thought you'd have fought back."

"He wanted me to. He always wants me to," John muttered tiredly. He avoided eye contact with Claire by pretending to be engrossed in stacking and un-stacking a small pile of arcade tokens that had been left on the counter. "I won't play his game and he hates it."

"That just proves you're a better person than him."

"Yeah? Well, if I ever need a character reference, I know who I'm gonna—" John's hand stilled when the implications of what Claire had said sunk in. His brows knitted in confusion and he finally looked up at her. "Who told you what happened?"

"No one," she replied elusively.

"It had to have been someone." There hadn't been many witnesses, so it seemed strange to him that she would've found out.

But instead of replying, she changed the subject. "How come I never see you at school?"

"Different schedules," he said, shrugging her question off. He was still keeping his distance, making sure their paths didn't cross. He didn't want to deal with the rejection he knew would come if he tried to strike up a conversation with her in the hallways.

"I guess."

She looked like she didn't quite believe him, so this time _he_ changed the subject. "You see any of the others?"

"Andy, mostly. Although, I do see Brian and Allison in the hall occasionally. I actually said hi to Brian once, but I think I embarrassed him in front of his friends because he turned bright red. What about you?" she asked.

"Just the basketcase. We have similar hangouts."

"Someday I'm going to figure out where those are," she said off-handedly. Then, looking like she'd just admitted to something she shouldn't have, she dropped her hands and straightened up. "I should let you get back to work."

He nodded, even though he didn't necessarily agree with her statement.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she said as she pushed away from the counter.

"Claire?"

"Yeah?"

"Here," he said, sliding the stack of arcade tokens over to her, his way of telling her he was sorry he could be such a jerk.

She questioned him with a look—like she was trying to read whatever he had hidden behind his eyes—and he panicked.

"No sense in wasting all your own money on Ms. Pac-Man," he teased, habit winning out over truth.

He expected her to reply with some defensive remark about how she wasn't _that_ bad at Ms. Pac-Man, and was already formulating a witty response, but their next round of banter never came. Instead she closed her palm over the tokens, brushing his hand with her fingertips as she did so, and simply said, "Thank you."

And he knew she had gotten the message.

xxx

On Sunday, Claire skated over to him after stowing her belongings in one of the lockers. "Can you hang on to this for me?" She held out her locker key and he looked at her blankly. "No pockets," she explained.

John gave her wardrobe choice an appraising look. God bless the sexy, yet impractical, design of her shorts/leggings combo. He took the key from her and dropped it into his front jeans pocket. "Just so you know, there's going to be a birthday party taking up most of the rink in about an hour," he told her.

"Hmm, maybe I'll play some arcade games later, then. What time do you get out today?"

"At three, why?"

"'Cuz you're going to buy me lunch."

"That's a presumptuous statement if I ever heard one."

"Don't you know that spoiled rich girls like me always get what they want?"

Turns out it was true, and it was a damn good thing that she only wanted a slice of pizza.

* * *

John stopped actively trying to avoid Claire in school. If their paths crossed? Oh well. If she ignored him? At least he'd know where he stood.

He didn't have to wait long. On Tuesday, he walked down the hallway where he knew her locker was, and she smiled at him. He returned her smile, instantly feeling like the world's sappiest nerd.

She acknowledged him seven more times in the hall that week, and after he'd let the locations of his hangouts slip, she'd sought him out four times. Not that he was keeping track.

* * *

_J. Bender: Fri. 6/8 (5pm-cl), Sat. 6/9 (5pm-cl), Sun. 6/10 (10am-3pm)_

On Friday, Claire asked him out of the blue if he could skate. "Better than you," he replied.

"That sounds like a challenge."

"More like an observation."

"I can skate backwards," she boasted.

"Oh, is _that_ what that was last Sunday? I was confused by the group of little kids sent flying in all directions." He fought to keep a straight face as he remembered the sight of Claire plowing into the birthday party crowd.

She frowned. "_That_ was an accident!" she defensively exclaimed. "And no one got hurt!"

"I'm pretty sure you made at least one girl cry," he pointed out.

"She stopped after I bought her a new balloon," Claire quietly confessed, and John finally let go of the laughter he was holding in.

He was fairly certain, though, that through his tears, he saw Claire eventually crack a smile.

xxx

On Saturday, Claire managed to convince some of her gaggle of friends to join her on the rink. John handed Claire her regular pair of skates and helped find ones that would fit the others. They were a giggly, picky bunch of girls, and he was almost positive they kept rejecting the skates he pulled for them just so he'd have to turn around, and they could check out his ass again.

Although, that could've just been wishful thinking on his part.

Still, he kind of got the feeling that this was all some sort of test Claire had devised to see how he'd handle her friends. It was for that reason that John found himself being as polite and patient with the group as he could ever hope to be, which admittedly was still slightly ruder than the average person, but he was charming enough to get away with it.

Whatever he did, it worked. Each and every one of the girls walked away from the counter with a smile and a 'not-so-grody' pair of skates in her hand. He even heard one of them remark, "You're right, he _is_ pretty cute."

Claire glanced back over her shoulder and gave him a sexy grin that told him she was glad he'd heard her friend's comment.

He guessed that meant he passed.

xxx

John introduced Claire to his friends when they stopped by on Sunday to shoot the shit with him. It went better than he'd anticipated, but he imagined that on Monday, they'd let him know what they'd really thought. It didn't matter though—he'd take all the teasing and insults they could throw at him because it still wouldn't change the fact that Claire Standish was interested in him.

So interested even, that it looked like she was going to stick around until the end of his shift again. That revelation inspired John to ask Larry about employee benefits.

"Twelve free tokens a day, you know that," Larry replied, not even bothering to look up from his paperwork.

"Yeah, but what about…other benefits?"

That got Larry's attention. "One free fountain drink while you're working?" he wondered.

"No, I mean—"

"Oh! You want to book your birthday party here? I'll give you ten-percent off."

John was sure Larry was messing with him now. "Skates! I want to rent some freakin' skates, Lar."

Larry chuckled and told him to take a pair. "Does this mean you're finally gonna join your girlfriend out there?"

His…_girlfriend_? It sounded as foreign in John's head as it had out loud. But that was when he realized that he had fallen slowly, almost effortlessly, into a relationship with the one person he thought he could never have.

* * *

_J. Bender: Fri. 6/15 (5pm-cl), Sat. 6/16 (5pm-cl), Sun. 6/17 (10am-3pm) - Don't forget- summer schedule starts next week! See Larry for details._

When Claire leaned over the counter on Friday night to say hi, John kissed her in full view of her friends and everyone else. It was just supposed to be a quick peck on the lips, but Claire's hand on the back of his head prevented him from pulling away until she was done with him.

When she finally broke contact, he was left with five dozen things in his head he wanted to do with her—four dozen of which would get him fired. He was so busy calculating the chances of getting caught if he snuck Claire into the storage room, that he almost didn't notice that she had started talking again.

"My notes say that you have Saturday afternoons free."

"Your notes are astoundingly accurate," he managed to reply.

"I don't suppose you'd want to go see a movie with me tomorrow?"

"I don't suppose I would."

She smiled. "Meet you there at eleven?"

He nodded dumbly, very much aware that he'd just been asked out on a date. The stupid grin he had on his face lasted well into the next day.

* * *

John's summer schedule didn't leave him with a lot of free time between work and school, but he found that he didn't mind so much. Claire was busy too, working at an ice cream shop by the lakeshore, and it was hard for them to find time to get together. It was made somewhat easier, however, once he bought his car. The first place he drove—the first _real_ place, after home and the gas station—was down to visit her. He figured it was only fair that he got to bother her on the job for once.

That was when he discovered that Claire's job came with benefits too. Benefits that she passed along to him so that she wouldn't get fat. John almost felt guilty about that one. Almost enough to assure her again that she wasn't fat. _Almost_. Free ice cream was not something he wanted to risk losing.

He stopped by to see Claire on a Sunday afternoon in early August. It was a day when the thermometer had passed ninety, and all he could think about was air-conditioning and consuming something frozen. Spending time with his girlfriend had almost come as an afterthought. Claire was making up his usual cone as he walked through the door, and smiled brightly at him when she handed it over. What he'd ever done to deserve her, he'd never know.

She watched him as he licked at his Rocky Road, so he made a rude comment about other places his tongue would like to be. It simultaneously made her blush and get mad—his favorite reaction. She tried to get him to leave after that, but he just smirked and told her to think of him hanging around while she worked as just another perk of the job.


End file.
